Wine Scene VII: The Crush

Nothing speaks to the critical character of producing high quality wine than trying to nail that perfect moment to commence the harvesting of the grape.

This perfect moment-in-time really is just that: an elusive and difficult to identify, very short-lived period when the grape has reached ideal "physiological ripeness" and then begins to decline into over-ripeness.

The issue is further compounded by the fact that grapes in various areas of the same vineyard will come to this point of perfection at differing times due to even minor environmental dissimilarities.

This begs the question, how is this ideal ripeness identified?

The answer to that is not so easily explained. Years ago, the refractometer was brought into the vineyard to measure "Brix", or the percentage of sugar in the juice of a freshly picked grape.

Certainly, the sugar ripeness is an important factor to consider in this determination of overall ripeness as it portends to the final percentage of alcohol in the future wine. But if making the absolute best wine from any grape is the goal (which it usually is), winemakers are looking at a more complete view of grape maturity, what they term "phenolic" or "physiological ripeness".

Now, I apologize for seeming to get too much into the weeds of technicality, but having a little more understanding of the difficulty in producing high quality wine will absolutely give you an even greater appreciation for the wine you regularly enjoy (and perhaps take for granted).

The timing of the development in the grape to achieve this perfection is much like a ball you throw straight up into the air.

It goes up until it hangs in the air for just a moment and then it accelerates downwards. A wine grape reaches its highest potential as all of the elements of the fruit come into... well, fruition.

The skin, the pulp, the water content, the sugar, the acids, the seeds, the polyphenols and flavonols, et al, all arrive at that perfect apogee simultaneously, then almost immediately start to decline towards over-ripeness.

In nature, this is actually the grape plant seeking to propagate itself beyond the vineyard.

In fact, the final color change of the fruit and the scent of the sugar and flavonols is designed to attract the birds, whose job it is to spread the seed of the plant far and wide.

Obviously, this natural scenario is what brought grapes and therefore wine to humans in natural history. Nowadays, however, the birds are not so gently discouraged in many ways from playing this role of beneficial seed carriers.

But I digress.

Hitting this small window of physiological ripeness perfection is complicated further by other factors such as weather.

Grapes should not be picked during or after rain, and yet the time for harvest often corresponds to rainy weather patterns. Heat spikes or extreme cold can also damage the grapes prior to picking.

Sometimes, playing a waiting game to achieve the desired ripeness can backfire in total loss. Farming is always risky!

So when the decision is made to pick, to commence the "Crush", it's a momentous one that cannot be withdrawn and is typically made by the winemaker.

It sets into motion a massive level of activity both in the vineyards and in the wineries as time is always of the essence and mistakes can be catastrophic and unforgivable.

It's a time of extreme stress as the winemaker is challenged to match nature's perfect physiological grape ripeness with his or her best efforts in maximizing the crush and initial fermentation process.

Once the grapes are in and fermentation is on its way, it's time to give a huge sigh of relief and it's also time to party.

The Fête de la Vandange (and its variants) has been integral to all wine cultures for centuries as people celebrate and unwind after their amazingly difficult yet extremely satisfying efforts of make the grape into fine wine. Hope that you now enjoy it even more!